This Montecito Garden's Wildly Beautiful Spirit Is Awakened After Enduring Destructive Mudflows
Before the catastrophic Montecito mudflows of 2018, everything that grew on this two-acre property in Southern California was “magic,” says landscape designer Margie Grace. Roses would bloom in the shade; hydrangeas relished the blazing sun. A grassy, serene pond drew ducks and quail and owls, all against an extraordinary backdrop of towering palms and live oaks belonging to a neighboring estate, like a regal army watching over it.
Then came the mud. “Everything was wiped out...plants, fences, animals. It was biblical,” recalls Grace. “We learned the absolute power of nature.” In the eight months that followed, another lesson emerged for Grace and the homeowner, designer Penelope Bianchi of McCormick Interiors: The magic hadn’t been swept away with the sludge. If anything, it had strengthened tenfold.
As they washed two feet of mud from the guesthouse and garage and cleaned up whatever they could salvage, they faced mountains of leftover sediment. “We had to do something with it, and I thought, There’s no reason the land has to be dead flat,” says Grace. So she began working it into the restoration plan.
At the south side of the house, she repurposed a portion of the muddy sediment into a 28-foot hill planted with sycamores and poppies and another into soil for a 12-foot redbud knoll. Along the property line, a four-foot berm became an organic solution for a washed-away privacy fence.
“Everything I put in the ground grew lightning fast,” recalls Grace, who trained in biology and geology. “I thought the new soil would be full of toxins, but the levels didn’t even register. What was left behind was amazing dirt.”
And the wildlife returned in multiples. “In California, we have trees like sycamores and redwoods that grow in the stream beds. Winter will come and water will whoosh down, and the trees may get buried with three feet of dirt and still live. They grow character instead of giving up. This garden has always had good vibes, and that’s part of it. But you just get out of the way and let nature fix it. Nature doesn’t give up.”
This article originally appeared in the March/April 2020 issue of VERANDA.
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VERANDA2020 Outdoor Living Award Winner for A Wildly Beautiful Revival
Design by Grace Design Associates, with McCormick Interiors
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